Planing and mission monitoring, full parameter list for configuration.

- What are the best and the worst experience using the Ground Control you had?

Best; I simply require features to work reliably, any GCS use that works, is "as expected".

Earlier, I used Mission Planner, it crashed randomly now-and then, and random features were broken after update, I had a incorrect parameter written (decimal error) due to GUI bug, and the mission took longer than daylight allowed, another time it just crashed every ~3-5 minutes. - always kept 2-3 versions that I knew were good (the features I actually use, worked.)

Most users of a GCS use it for configuration of the drone. A smaller number are doing auto missions, but this is mainly being handled by tablet devices. With 'prosumer' mapping using the 'grid mapper' feature in Mission Planner.

The biggest mistake with the current GCS software is that they are monolithic is nature. I think they can be split into three areas, Configuration (which is drone specific), Mission Monitoring and Control (MAVLink makes this more generic for all MAVLink autopilots) Mission Planning.

By splitting these into separate areas, and programs you can address other system requirements, for example 'Mission Monitoring & Control' needs to be very robust. it's Mission Critical. You can create, for example 3D, monitoring views, but due to the complexity, these should not be a mission critical feature. Drone Configuration and Planning can be separate applications that don't have such critical requirements, and not having in the same code base as Mission Control can improve reliability.

A GCS also needs to be cross platform, since even though windows maybe the dominant OS, academic developments are focused on unix based operating systems. ROS is a good example, as windows version is only experimental, its mainly developed for and on unix operating systems.

We those points in mind, which are more focused on technical requirements, the other point is that neither Mission Planner or APM Planner 2.0 (which is a deliberately a copy of Mission Planner experience) have been created with the involvement of UI/UX persons. This is the weakest point so far in the development, as the UI is created by engineers.

Best Experience with a GCS, getting my drone to fly.

Worst Experience with a GCS, it setting a parameter out of range causing a crash.

Thank you, Bill. What do you mean by "With 'prosumer' mapping using the 'grid mapper' feature in Mission Planner."? Could you explain better? Other question, in your opinion the three areas should be: configuration, mission monitoring and control and mission planning? Thanks again.

With 'prosumer' mapping using the 'grid mapper' feature in Mission Planner.